Gwyneth Paltrow has defended the ‘nepo baby’ phenomenon – months after a backlash against celebrities’ children who went into showbiz.
She herself hails from a Hollywood family, as the daughter of St. Elsewhere producer Bruce Paltrow and Meet The Parents actress Blythe Danner.
….in mother’s footsteps
Having followed her mother’s footsteps into acting, Gwyneth, 51, now sees ‘nothing wrong with doing or wanting to do what your parents do.’
In a new interview with Bustle, the Oscar winner argued: ‘Nobody rips on a kid who’s like: “I want to be a doctor like my dad and granddad.”‘
However she insisted that her own daughter Apple, 19, is ‘a very private person’ who has no interest in even modeling for Gwyneth’s wellness brand Goop.
What is Nepo baby culture?
When the interviewer said Apple ‘could be a lovely model,’ Gwyneth replied: ‘Exactly! She doesn’t want anything to do with it, though.’
She reflected: ‘Now there’s this whole nepo baby culture, and judgment that exists around kids of famous people. She’s really just a student, and she’s been very…. She just wants to be a kid and be at school and learn.’
Gwyneth stood up for children who join the same profession as their parents, pointing out that they are acting on the influences they absorbed at home.
‘The truth is if you grow up in a house with a lot of artists and people making art and music, that’s what you know, the same way that if you grow up in a house with law, the discussions around the table are about the nuances of whatever particular law the parents practice,’ she said.
‘I think it’s kind of an ugly moniker.’
She added: ‘I just hope that my children always feel free to pursue exactly what they want to do, irrespective of what anybody’s going to think or say.’
Gwyneth shares her daughter, as well as a son called Moses, 17, with her ex-husband Chris Martin, who became a global heartthrob as the frontman of Coldplay.
Chris and Gwyneth publicly separated in 2014, whereupon she inspired widespread mockery by referring to the breakup as a ‘conscious uncoupling.’
They have remained amicable and Gwyneth is famously even friendly with Chris’ much younger girlfriend Dakota Johnson of Fifty Shades Of Grey fame.
